Traditional models already explain adoption/abandonment pattern

Abstract

Berger and Le Mens (1) analyze US records of baby-name popularity in the 20th century and nicely demonstrate the symmetry in the rise and decline of patterns of adoption over time. They suggest that this result negates traditional diffusion models “driven by saturation of a pool of potential adopters” (1). Instead, they account for the symmetry of rise/decline by using a number of assumptions on human psychology and perception.